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Champagne Moments

The Lodger has had a summer filled of Champagne Moments. (Thank you fellow PWS Mum for this phrase!)

The IKEA Blue Chair

This time last year, The Lodger started to weight bear. Since then, there has been daily physiotherapy and the motivation of Walter and the rest of The Muppets, the use of clever strategies to increase his confidence in using his legs rather than crawling, weekly hydrotherapy to improve his strength, the removal and relocation of furniture to encourage him to take an extra step and a lot of praise and encouragement from us and family and friends to motivate him to walk an extra few steps everyday. We were over the moon, thrilled to bits when The Lodger took his first solo steps in June and with a lot of practice all summer, he can now walk independently! We have the Ikea blue chair to thank, as it acted like a walker he could push around the house. It scratched the floors but each scratch is a step taken, a reminder of the tremendous amount of work it has taken The Lodger to reach this important milestone.

The Lodger as Ring Bearer !!

Each week his confidence in his own abilities grew. He'd forget to hold on and walk over to the window to see a truck (He loves trucks!). He'd get excited that someone was at the door and walk an extra few steps to see who was there. Now, he rarely holds onto furniture, he can walk all around the house. He can carry toys from A to B. And he's getting quick..... The thud thud thud on the floor is speeding up and it's a delight to hear!!

The Lodger & Mum dancing on the beach!

In mid August, we finally got the prescription for Growth Hormone. As with any new treatment, we were expecting a few weeks for The Lodger to get used to it. The day the nurse was arriving, I had prepared him that he would be getting an injection but it was nothing to worry about and it would make him stronger.The minute the nurse arrived, The Lodger pointed at his leg for his injection. While we were getting trained, he happily made us all a drink from his play kitchen and kept himself busy playing with his new bear the nurse had brought him. The time for the first injection arrived and The Lodger cheered, instead of cried. It's been the same way, every day since. We spend a good few minutes calming down a wriggling with excitement little boy before injection time and as any other PWS parent knows, time is precious when GH is out of the fridge! Within a few weeks, The Lodger's overall strength improved- from the tone of his body, to increased vocal sounds and he has more energy, a lot more energy! His speech has improved. The Lodger is really trying to put words together and is relying less and less on the use of signs to communicate his needs. His vocabulary is building everyday. His latest phrase is 'Good boy'. Just today we were out for our walk and his mission was to walk to the next tree. He did it and turned around proudly to look at me and to announce 'Good Boy'! Growth hormone injections have quickly become part of our bedtime routine. In a funny way, it has become part of The Lodgers play routine too. Soon we are going to have oversized stuff animals around the house, as The Lodger WALKS around injecting them all with his toy screw driver!

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